other dog

I cooked some ribs yesterday,and I know this isn't the recipe corner,but they were so good I thought I'd share. I saw A recipe in A magazine once,two rappers had A rib cooking contest,and I kind of modified the winning recipe.First I slice the ribs into serving size pieces,then boil the ribs in beer with A little garlic,black pepper,and some of my homemade barbecue sauce,which is mostly just vinegar,red pepper,and liquid smoke. Then after they've simmered 'til they're done I put them on the charcoal grill and brown them on both sides,and they're good to go.They always come out tender and delicious.And that's the recipe of the week...tune in next week for tomater sammiches.

Interesting stuff ? Oh,I didn't notice that part before...well, congratulations Paul!

I must agree.Back when they were probably the most popular engine on the road nobody had many good things to say about them,but they've definately stood the test of time,and like A small block Chevy,definately one of the greatest engines of all time.I love to hear one now.When I went to the truck show recently in Troutman,N.C. I thought there was A lot of trucks there that weren't antiques ,but then I realized the anteater KW came out in the mid 80's so I guess it is an antique-thing of it is,it made me realize that I'M an antique now too!

Well sh....oot! I didn't know they even made 903s anymore! I've seen Terra Gators before on rt. 20 in Ohio for sale-maybe I'll stop and pretend like I'm A potential buyer to hear one run.

Oh yeah,I'd forgoptten all about them! How about when you'd pull into A truckstop tired as -well,very tired,fall sound asleep and jump straight up a little while later scared as -well,scared because the truck parked next to you had an air starter and it startled you half to death!

Yeah,the truck was OK-the flat top looks way better,and I thought it was A good job overall,but the trainset-I just don't get that.I'd rather have my bed,but maybe it's retired to just shows and parades,and ain't nothing wrong with that.

Oh,and how about those Farmalls? Thousands of them still working every day. But that just reminds me of the 350 Farmall my brother had and sold for $850.

Yeah Paul,I was saying the same thing the other day when I was commenting on the Diamond Reo I saw on Youtube.When Jobyna was taking me to work I said my old mixer is 42 years old,and in pretty good shape.F.L.Moore and sons have new Petes,Freightliners,KWs,and A few IHs,none over a couple of years old-I asked her "how many of these trucks do you think will still be around in 42 years?". She said "probably none". I agreed.

New battery,I should have said,not batteries.They only replaced the one that was bad,so now I've got one new and three old ones.Should have replaced them all in my opinion with winter coming.But I did get 8 new drive tires too.They put Generals on it-had Michelins before-and boy did they feel funny at first.Went to Dillwyn to load and thought I'd hit A patch of black ice in the first curve,but it was 85 degrees. Went to Fremont then Macedonia to Roanoke and thought I might be done for the week,but then I had to go to Avon,Oh. and reloaded at Sharon,Pa. for Lynchburg.Had A little small adventure on the way back. I got off of I-99 at Roaring Spring,Pa. to get A drink and A sandwich maybe.I was thinking there was A little fuel stop there,but apparently I was mistaken.Didn't see A fuel stop or A turnaround spot,so I kept going towards Roaring Spring to turn around at the Wal-Mart,but didn't see one of them either.So I continued on,rode through town,ended up on 867 south,had no idea where I was headed,road getting smaller and smaller.After A few miles the road got bigger,but still no where to pull over to look at my map or turn around.Finally I saw clearance lights approaching and hollered on the radio,"HELP!" or something,but it was A straight truck.Fortunately he did have A radio,and told me to go to the stop sign and make A right,go over the mountain and I'd be right back to 99. So I did and when I made that right I started climbing.When I got in the high side of the transmission I had to go right back to the low side to get over the mountain. When I finally struggled to the top the sign said 12% grade,next 2 miles.So I eased on down,still in the low side because I didn't know the road and didn't want to run up on another 15 mph curve like I did coming up.Got back on 99 and didn't even want A drink and sandwich anymore.

Don't worry guys-I know everybody was loading their jumper cables to come over and get me started this morning,but it fired right up.Now I gotta go to Lynchburg and unload then to the shop for fuel and some new batteries,then to Dillwyn to load Kyanite going to Fremont,Oh. So I'm off like A herd of turtles as Bill would say.

I must agree with you on that-the anal cavity part that is. I never heard of such!

Paul's Monday sounds better than mine,but I had mine on Sunday this week.Started out looking like it was gonna be one of those days.I couldn't get the computer to come on because it wouldn't take the password.Not an AOL or website password,but the HP password to start it in the first place.I'd type it,but nothing would happen.Tried restarting 2 or 3 times,same thing.Finally I just shut it off completely and turned it back on and it worked.As I think I once heard somebody say here "stupid computers". Then I couldn't get on BMT,kept getting an error page,so I went to work and my truck wouldn't start.Batteries were dead.I'd even cleaned the refrigerator out Friday and turned it off,and it still wouldn't start.Usually I'll leave the refrigerator on all weekend and it starts right up.One of the batteries must have gone bad,they look like the original batteries,so they're 2 years old.Had to call Jeff (Moore) to bring some jumper cables,because mine were in the tool box on the back of the pickup,but the tool box was sitting in my back yard because I took it off for something and never got around to putting it back on. It started raining about the time he got there,and it still wouldn't start off his pickup.Another driver came in to leave about then,and he had cables too,so we pulled one of them Freightliners down by the truck and used both sets of cables and finally got it started.Then I was motoring along on I 64 near Covington,headed to Zelienople,Pa,when an SUV passed me and A rock or something flew up and broke my driver side windshield-not too bad,but worse than the usual little bubble A little rock makes.It hasn't started to spread yet,but it probably will when it gets cold because there's dozens of little cracks around the center of the point of impact. So,when I got up to I-79 and proceded North,I pulled into the first rest area I got to and made A ham and cheese sandwich,and after I ate I took A nap. After that,everything went very well-unloaded in Zelienople this morning,reloaded 5 coils in Sharon,Pa.going to Lynchburg,dropped the trailer there tonight and bobtailed home. I hope the truck starts in the morning.

I'd take a stab at Smith Mfg. for a guess. The company I worked for years ago had all Smith Mfg. and Rex Mfg. mixer bodies, and both makes look very similar to what you have. It does seem, though, that both of those builders had their name someplace on the body in cast lettering. Usually up high on the back. It probably doesn't really matter, as you can have any of the parts duplicated pretty easy, I would imagine. The critical pieces might be the hydraulic pump, the gearbox and the drum drive assembly. Drum skins, mixing fins, drum rollers and chutes are all fabricated pretty routinely. If the drum bearing ring at the back of the body is worn - it can probably be hardplated and remachined in place by a good welder. It would be nice to have it usable, even if you just delivered clean stone and topsoil etc. - no more concrete, unless you enjoy climbing inside and jackhammering it out to clean the drum. Been there - done that - no need to repeat it. Yeah,it all works now,I just never use it (the mixer that is ).After it rains,which has been very seldom around here this summer,I always run it for A while just to dump the water out.I'd even thought about putting some gravel in it to roll around A while to knock any rust loose and clean it out better.Plus some rocks would probably make A nice noise. I picked up A load of landscaping stone near Binghamton,N.Y. one time and they rolled the stone in A mixer to give them that old weatherbeaten look before they put them on pallets.They had two mixers there and that's all they used them for.

I've sat around here all day and haven't done anything but pick the tomatoes and go to the mailbox.And wrote some checks to pay some bills-phone,electric,credit card,etc. I know I should relax and try to enjoy A day off,but I can't help feeling A little guilty for doing nothing.Tomorrow I'll probably feel like doing nothing,and I have to go back to work. A truck drivers life I guess.

I knew I'd think of something else-the sound of the mailman leaving A check in the mailbox instead of another bill.

No Paul,I drive for F.L.Moore and sons in Concord,Va. We're between Lynchburg and Appomattox,Va.Yeah,they keep me pretty busy-lot of times busier than I want to be,but like I say,when my outgo is more than my income I gotta go no matter how lazy I get.

I have a question-I pick up the free tractor magazines,with tractors and equipment for sale,at A lot of truckstops and pass them on to my brother and Dad because they like to look at 'em,and I notice they always mention when an IH is the black stripe. What does the black stripe mean? Are they different than the ones with the white stripe on the hood?

that got me to thinking...things you just don't hear much anymore.When I was A kid about anytime I went outdoors I'd hear A chainsaw running somewhere.Nowadays they use feller bunchers or A saw head machine,you don't hear chainsaws much except maybe someone cutting firewood. A 903 Cummins engine-used to drive one,but it's been years since I've heard that distinct sound. V-8 Macks-very rare to hear one now. And the old 2 cycle Detroits-I remember when Roadway had R-models with 318s in them and when they talked on the radio you could barely make out what they were saying but you could hear that 318 jimmy screaming in the background. I guess they were used to it.

Why am I the only one with cops and trucker stories? Maybe because I have so many? Well,as I said,I don't get stopped A lot nowadays,I usually just knock along maybe A couple of miles over the speed limit,but in my younger days-well,I got my share of tickets.Even had my license suspended for 45 days once,and had to work in the shop. I got A couple of tickets I did not deserve.Now I realize most people would think they didn't deserve any ticket they got,but once I was heading north on I-81 near Staunton,Va.with A load of concrete pipe going to Harrisonburg.I was cruising along about 67 or 68 mph when A four wheeler passed me at A high rate of speed and there was A cop sitting in the next crossover.The car cut right over in front of me and hit the brakes so hard I had to swerve into the left lane to avoid hitting it.A passenger in the back seat turned all the way around to look for the cop,and sure enough he was coming.I thought as I moved back to the right lane "he's done nailed their a..,I mean butts".However,instead of pulling them,he pulled in behind me and turned his lights on.This particular truck wouldn't run but 71 mph-it would only turn 1800 rpms in high gear,so it would run as fast in direct as it would overdrive,but 71 was it-top end.I tried to tell the officer this,but of course all he knew was radar always got the biggest object,it didn't matter that the car was in front of me,in the left lane,I was in the right lane,or that the truck wouldn't run but 71 mph-he still wrote me A ticket for running 74 in A 65. I suspect he went by the big truck rule when he worked an accident involving A truck,which is " whenever there's an accident involving A big truck,the truck is automatically at fault,regardless of the circumstances".

Yeah,it's A good show.I usually go and take pictures for Old Bill's site,and he's A BMT member too. I bet he'd be glad to link up with you. I'll volunteer to be the undercover picture taking operative.

Hey everybody,I just talked to Bill and the truck show page is complete. Check it out at www.thedieselgypsy.com .Just look for "Tom Blackwell visits truck show,Troutman,N.C. USA"

Hey Barry, I've never been to Macungie,it's A little far unless I had A load going somewhere in the area,which I seldom do. I was just wondering if you ever went to the ATHS show in Winchester in September?

But...speaking of Dunkin' Donuts,there was A radio station in Roanoke that used to have the "cop or no cop" game. You'd have to guess "cop or no cop",then they would call A donut shop and ask if A cop was there...if you guessed right you won A tee shirt or a CD.